


Photographs of Pygmy Puffs

by Muggleborn_Weasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 10:13:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7930771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muggleborn_Weasley/pseuds/Muggleborn_Weasley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A fluffy little fic about Harry looking after a fluffly little Pygmy Puff while Ginny is away at Quidditch Training Camp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Photographs of Pygmy Puffs

"Don't forget, Arnold needs to be brushed every day." Ginny said, as she frantically stuffed odds and ends into her trunk.  
"Every day, got it." Harry grinned.  
"And be gentle with him, he's still traumatised from when Ron dropped him down the stairs."  
"Be gentle, got it." He continued to grin at her, looking rather dopey.  
"And make sure that,"  
"I promise, Arnold will be well cared for while you're at your Quidditch training camp. Now stop worrying about the pygmy puff and give your boyfriend a proper goodbye." Harry said, snaking an arm around her waist and pulling the frazzled witch against his chest. Ginny sighed, relaxing into Harry's embrace.  
"I know you'll take care of him, it's just that he's getting to be an old man now. And he was a gift from Fred and well,"  
"I know. I know how much the little fuzzball means to you." Harry said, releasing Ginny and scooping Arnold from his cage.  
"We'll be just fine, won't we Arnie? Go on, tell mummy we'll be fine." Harry said, turning the Puff toward Ginny. He blinked a few times, then peeped happily, before nuzzling against Harry's fingers. "See? He's happy, he likes me."  
"He likes you because you overfeed him. Don't give him too much, he's too fat as it is."  
"Weren't you leaving?" Harry demanded, jokingly of course. He was fed up being lectured.  
"Alright, alright. I'm running late as it is, I know. Love you, see you in a week!" She pulled him in for a final kiss goodbye.  
"Bye Arnie, you be good for Harry." She cooed, patting Arnold's head.  
"Miss you already. Have fun at training!" Harry called after her as she disappeared into the floo. "You know what," Harry spoke to the Puff, "I'm going to marry that woman someday – even if she is bat shit crazy. What do you think about that?" Arnold squeaked happily and Harry decided to take that as his approval. All he could do now was hope that asking Ginny's father and brothers would be as easy.

Ginny hadn't been gone for more than a few hours when Harry had decided that Pygmy Puffs were about as boring as they were adorable. Arnold had done little more than eat and fall asleep on Harry's shoulder. He didn't know what Ginny expected him to do with the thing for a week – after all, it wasn't like he could put Arnold to work. Although, that gave Harry and idea! Tomorrow, Arnold was going to go to work with Harry. He'd even snap a picture or two for Ginny. That would definitely earn him some brownie points with the fiery redhead. Plus, there were few things in life more depressing than the Auror Office on a Monday morning, so Arnold would help lift the atmosphere a bit. The way Harry saw it, it was a win-win situation. Harry carefully scooped Arnold – who was still sound asleep and blissfully unaware of Harry's stroke of genius – and placed him on the arm of the chair so that he could go and rummage through all his belongings until he found an old camera. He had made one hell of a mess in the process and was incredibly glad he had seven days to tidy up before Ginny was back. Not that there was a week's worth of tidying to be done, but Harry was extraordinarily lazy when it came to tidying up. If it weren't for Ginny and Hermione nagging at him constantly, Grimmauld Place would permanently look like a demolition site. A quick floo call and a few sickles later, Harry had film for the camera and his ingenious plan was well underway. He was loathed to admit it, but he was rather looking forward to work the next day.

Harry was settling into his cubical in the Auror Department the next morning as Arnold squeaked happily from his cage. The Puff was clearly excited to be somewhere new. Harry's plan was to set the camera timer and take a simple picture of himself and Arnold sitting at his desk. He was struggling with the mini tripod when he heard someone behind him clear their throat.  
"What the bloody hell are you doing, Potter?" Auror Secretary, and former Gryffindor Chaser, Katie Bell asked. He could see the concern and confusion written all over her face, however Arnold chirped which distracted her. "Well who is this handsome man?" She cooed at Arnold, sticking her finger in the cage to pat his fluffy little head.  
"That's Arnold. I'm watching him for Ginny while she's at training camp." Harry mumbled dismissively, still trying to ram the camera onto the tripod.  
"Potter. Stop." She yanked the camera off him as if it were a toy being taken from a misbehaving child. He was half expecting her to tell him to play nicely. "You're going to break the bloody camera. What exactly are you trying to do anyway?"

Harry sighed, "I'm trying to set it up to take a photo of me and Arnold at work. It's daft, but I thought Ginny might like it. She was worried about leaving him behind for the week."  
"You're such a gimp." She laughed, "That's really sweet though. Here, let me take the picture. Ginny's going to love this."  
"Thanks Katie." Harry's thanks were most sincere. He was incredibly relieved he no longer had to fiddle with the camera as he was rather close to pointing his wand directly at the thing and screaming incedio at the top of his voice. Harry retrieved Arnold from his cage and balanced him on his shoulder. He pretended to be writing while Katie snapped the picture. As she did so, Arnold decided he'd much prefer to sit on Harry's head than his shoulder.  
"Okay," Katie laughed, handing him back the camera, "That's going to be amazing. I'm pretty sure I caught him jumping."  
"Brilliant!" Harry smiled, trying to lift Arnold out of his hair, but the Puff was having none of it. He was quite comfortable nesting on Harry's head.  
"Ooh! I have an idea for another photograph." Katie declared suddenly.  
"I'm all ears."  
"We could transfigure a tiny desk and quill for Arnold and make it look like he's really working?" She suggested. "I bet Ginny would love it."  
"That's bloody brilliant! Why didn't I think of that? She'll love that."  
"What can I say?" She shrugged, "I'm a genius. Listen, I'd best be off. I need to go find Scamander down in Magical Creatures so I'll leave you to it. Don't break that bloody camera, and remember you've got that meeting at eleven." Harry nodded and said his farewells, then set to work immediately.

On Tuesday, Harry decided that he would continue to document his adventures with Arnold until Ginny returned. He was meeting Hagrid for tea after his work, so that would provide him with many great photo opportunities.  
"'Arry!" Hagrid boomed, opening the door to his cottage on the Hogwarts grounds. "An' you brought a friend! Aw, bless his 'art. Is this Arnol'?"  
"Yeah, I'm babysitting. Er, well, Pygmy Puff sitting I suppose. Ginny's away at Quidditch training."  
"Ah," Hagrid nodded. "Well, don' jus' stand there. Come on in. Kettle's jus' on. Me an' Fang don' get to many visitors these days." Hagrid said, ushering Harry inside and closing the door. "Fang! 'Arry's 'ere, an' he's brough' Arnol' too!" All of a sudden, there was one-hundred-and-seventy-pounds of moronic boarhound was bounding towards Harry and Arnold. Harry braced for impact while Arnold squealed happily at the sight of the dog. Fang jumped up on his hind legs to lick ferociously at Harry's face, clearly trying to knock his glasses as squint as possible. Once Fang had seen to it that Harry was sufficiently covered in saliva, he turned his attention to the tiny purple Puff. He sniffed at Arnold, tail wagging excitedly. Arnold, who was known to bounce up and down when he was excited, looked as though he may explode if he didn't get to play with Fang.  
"Okay Arnie, you can play with Fang, but no disappearing." Harry warned as he opened the cage. Arnold let out a high pitch squeal, much like a happy toddler, and hopped onto Fang's nose. The dopey dog had made himself go cross-eyed trying to look at the Puff, and Harry took the opportunity to snap a quick photograph before either of them moved too much. Tea went swimmingly. He and Hagrid had chatted for hours while they watched Fang and Arnold play. Neither creature seemed to be bothered by the fact that Fang weighed nearly two-hundred pounds, yet Arnold weighed barley a pound. The size difference was rather comical. Fang seemed to look bigger than usual, and Arnold looked considerably smaller than usual. By the time he left Hagrid's, which was considerably later than he had intended, Harry was satisfied that he had a few good photographs of Arnold playing with Fang.

Wednesday was a busy day at the office for Harry, so Arnold got to sleep most of the morning, then he spent some time with Katie Bell in the afternoon. After work, Arnold accompanied Harry, Ron, Dean, Seamus and Neville to the Leaky Cauldron for drinks. He seemed to enjoy himself – or he enjoyed himself as much as any Pygmy Puff could enjoy themselves in a busy pub. Harry explained what he was doing to his friends what he was doing, then ordered an extra butterbeer for Arnold to bathe in. Harry knew he would regret it when he had to bathe the Puff for real to get all the sticky butterbeer out his fluff, but it would make a cute photograph, so he did it.  
"Y'know," Seamus informed him as he set up the photograph, "That's the gayest thing I think I've ever seen."  
"Coming from the gay man holding his gay boyfriends gay hand right now? Yeah, I'm sure." Harry rolled his eyes and the two friends burst into roaring laughter. The five friends chatted, drank and laughed for hours, whilst Arnold played in the butterbeer – quite content with the simple idea of making a mess.  
"What if he's a test?" Neville nodded to the sticky little Puff, who was happily bobbing around in the foam on top of the butterbeer.  
"What do you mean?" Dean asked, slurring his words. He had never been able to drink like the rest of them, but he tried to keep up anyway. It was a good job Seamus was Irish and could handle his liquor or else Dean would never get home after a night out.  
"All I'm saying is," Neville hiccupped, "Pygmimy Puffs aren't that different from," he hiccupped again, "aren't that different from babies when you think about it. What if looking after Arnold is a test?"  
"Ooh, that's a point." Dean agreed.  
"Let's just remember," Ron leaned forward on the table, waving a finger drunkenly at them all, "that we're talking about my baby sister here. And if he's knocked her up, I'm going to have to kill him." The waving finger settled on Harry.  
"Ginny's snot pregnant," Harry slurred his words, but they came out with an alcohol fuelled confidence. Had he been sober, he wouldn't have been quite so quick to say that as he and Ginny were never all that diligent about birth control. He started to think about it, however, and in his intoxicated state he decided that it might not be the worst thing ever to happen if Ginny was pregnant. Before long, Arnold started getting fussy. Harry couldn't really blame him, and was quite glad to have an excuse to leave. He enjoyed their 'boy's nights' but he was tired and he was drunk. More than anything he just wanted a cup of tea and his bed.

On Thursday they stayed at home, for which Harry was thankful as he was nursing one hell of a headache. The only time he stepped over the door was when he apparated to Diagon Alley to buy some bubble-bath. The stuff he was looking for was designed to make the bubbles change colour in the bath and it was marketed for toddlers, to keep them occupied during bath time, but Harry thought it would make some cute pictures to show Ginny. As brilliant as he thought the idea was, he was still dreading bathing the mischievous Pygmy Puff. That afternoon, Harry decided he could avoid the task no longer. He ran an inch or so of warm water into the kitchen sink and added the multi-coloured bubbles, which immediately started fading from red to orange, orange to yellow, yellow to green and so on through the rainbow. He then went to collect the sticky Pygmy Puff from his play pen in the sitting room. Bathing the fluffy little bastard was more difficult than Harry had anticipated and took considerably longer than he had hoped. Sometime later, Harry had one squeaky clean Pygmy Puff, four or five adorable questions, and a soaking wet kitchen to boot. He left Arnold playing contentedly in the sink while he dried himself and the kitchen.

Friday came around, meaning that Teddy Lupin would be joining Harry and Arnold for the night. For about a year now Teddy had been having sleepovers with Uncle Harry every Friday night. Teddy's grandparents were starting to get older now, and the young boy was boisterous. They needed a break from him, and Harry loved having him. Normally Ginny would spend the night on Friday's too, just so Harry had an extra pair of hands to help him with Teddy. This week, however, he was going to have to juggle a toddler and a Pygmy Puff and he wasn't sure how that was going to go down given that they were as boisterous as each other and it was nearly unmanageable when they were together.  
"Right Teddy," Harry cleared the dinner plates off the table. "Why don't you let Uncle Harry take some silly pictures of you and Arnold for Auntie Ginny."  
"Yeah!" Teddy squealed, turning his hair from its natural sandy blonde to teal involuntarily. It always went teal when he was happy, purple when he was hungry and orange when he was tired. He would learn to control his metamorphmagus abilities as he grew up, but for now it made him easy to look after – unless he was hyper. It took Harry nearly an hour to get the photo just right. Teddy was supposed to pretend like he was going to take a bite out of Arnold, but neither he nor Arnold were cooperating. Teddy laughed and got distracted for nearly every take, and Arnold wasn't any better. He was completely enamoured with the small wizard, and kept trying to lick his face when he was supposed to be looking frightened. Eventually, Harry gave up and decided one of the pictures of the two messing around would be cute enough to use – hopefully. Teddy and Arnold played together for most of the night while Harry took a few more pictures.

Ted and Andromeda came to pick Teddy up around eleven on Saturday morning, however the toddler refused to leave without throwing a tantrum about how he wanted to stay and play with Arnold. Eventually, he was satisfied enough with the idea of playing with Arnold next Friday that he allowed himself to be taken home. All in all, it had cost Harry about forty-five minutes of his busy day that he hadn't accounted for. He left almost immediately for Diagon Alley, desperate to make up the time.  
"Harry, what brings you here?" George greeted Harry enthusiastically when he entered the joke shop. "Merlin's beard! What's wrong with Arnold?" He nodded at the Puff.  
"What?" Harry damn near yelled, "There's something wrong with him? There can't be anything wrong with him. He's acting fine. Oh my god, Ginny's going to kill me!"  
"I'm winding you up, he's fine. A little fat, maybe." George chuckled.  
"Yeah, Ginny's always telling me I over feed him." Harry couldn't believe he had only been in the door a minute at most and George had already tricked him.  
"You should have seen your face, mate. That was a classic Harry overreaction." George said with a chuckle. "Anyhoo, what can I do for you?"  
"I need your help." Arnold decided this was an appropriate moment to squeal excitedly – right in Harry's ear. He had just spotted the Pgymy Puffs in the cages in the corner of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.  
"No way mate. Last time I helped you prank Ginny I got caught in the cross fire. You've seen her bat-bogey hex; I'm not pissing her off."  
"I don't want to prank her. I've been taking daft photos of Arnold to make a kind of scrapbook for her. I was hoping to borrow one of your Puffs for a bit and take some pictures of them on a little Puff date."  
"You must've hit your head if you think I'd be interested in," Harry cut him off, determined not to take no for an answer.  
"I'll make a copy of the picture for you. You can give it to Angie. She loves the bloody things just about as much as Ginny does."  
"That's not even fair, Harry. You know fine well she's still angry with me for turning her eyebrows green!"   
"Exactly, if you go home with photo of two adorable little Pygmy Puffs on a date, she'll have no choice but to forgive you."  
"Fine, but I want you to know I'm only doing this because I need Angie to talk to me." George huffed. They got to work straight away, transfiguring a tiny table out of an empty box, and a fancy table cloth from a napkin George had lying around from his lunch the day before. It looked good when they were finished, just like the fancy Italian restaurant in further down Diagon Alley.

"Can you grab a pink one?" Harry asked George, looking up just in time to see Arnold dive from his cage. "No, no, no, no, no!" Harry yelled. "His cage was locked! Ginny is going to go absolutely mental! Arnold, come here now." Harry demanded, but unsurprisingly, Arnold did not step forward.  
"Gee, sorry 'bout that Harry." George said, rubbing at the back of his neck suspiciously. Harry took no notice of him, but if he had, he would know that George set Arnold free on purpose. Harry pushed his glasses up higher on his nose before running a hand through his wild hair. He could figure this out. After all, he was a Junior Auror and Arnold was a Pygmy Puff. Then again, Harry decided that it was likely that Arnold would outsmart him. After a while, he narrowed it down to three. All the others were either too skinny or the wrong shade of purple. He was on the verge of hysterics when he heard George laughing heartily.  
"You really can't tell them apart, can you?"  
"No of course I bloody well can't! can you?" Harry's brain was frazzled.  
"Harry, I breed the bastards. Of course I can tell them apart."  
"If I didn't need your help, I'd bloody well murder you George!"  
"Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist. Arnold is nearly four. Those little guys are only a few months old. The older they get, the more wrinkled their eyes get." George explained, "So, that one there is Arnold." George pointed to the fattest Puff in the cage. Harry scooped Arnold out the cage despite him squealing in protest. Harry decided he would give Arnold some time to play in the cage after they had taken the picture – now that he knew he could tell Arnold apart from the rest. He also decided he would buy one of the pink Puffs as a surprise for Ginny when she came home. George scooped a pink Puffling out of the cage and took it through to the table they had set up.

Harry was pleasantly surprised by how quickly he got the picture he desired, however, before long the two Pygmy Puffs were only interested in playing with each other. This gave Harry the perfect opportunity to speak to George about the other thing that had brought him into the shop today. Suddenly his throat was dry, and the ring in his pocket felt as if it weighed a ton. So far, Harry had written to Charlie – who was still in Romania. He had spoken to Bill one day when he had asked Harry over to help him get rid of an Imp infestation. A few days after talking to Bill, he had the opportunity to speak to Percy at work about the matter in hand. So that left only George, Ron and Mr Weasley. Harry personally thought that asking 'permission' of Ginny's father was old fashioned, but Hermione had explained to him that it was just another strange, conservative wizard tradition. She had also told him that it wasn't essential, it was just a customary sign of respect, but since he was so close with the Weasley's he should probably speak to all the brothers and not just Mr Weasley. It was George and Ron he was most nervous about talking too, as they were closest to Ginny – and they were also the most likely to hit Harry. He wasn't all that worried about talking to Mr Weasley, as both he and Mrs Weasley had dropped hints several times about the young couple getting engaged – much to Ginny's embarrassment.  
"Don't think too hard Harry, you might hurt yourself mate." George's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "What's bothering you?"  
"Nothing. Well no, not nothing. This." Harry took the ring box out his pocket and sat it down gently in front of George. George promptly picked it up and inspected the ring inside.  
"It's beautiful Harry. I don't really know what to say. I mean, I love you of course – but as a brother. And you know I'm engaged to Angie."  
"Oh, would you please be serious?" Harry's tone was harsher than he intended but, in his defence, he was tense.  
"If this is your pathetic attempt at asking for my blessing then you have it, although you should know it won't be worth shit to Ginny."  
"I know, but it's the proper thing to do." Harry shrugged.  
"Merlin Harry, you haven't knocked her up have you?" George gasped as the thought dawned on him.  
"No, I haven't! Why does everyone think Ginny's pregnant?"  
"I don't know. She's put on a little weight recently." George pondered.  
"I'll tell her you said that." Harry raised an eyebrow, mockingly threatening George.  
"If you do, I'll tell her you agreed." Harry had to admit that George had won. They spoke for a little while longer and Harry shared his fears about telling Ron. George, of course, laughed at him but then reassured him that it would be fine. In the end, Harry left the shop with one more picture, one more Pygmy Puff and one more brother's permission.

Every second Saturday, Ginny would go out for dinner with Hermione and Luna. Obviously she had had to cancel this week, and it hadn't suited Luna to meet either. Hermione hadn't told Ron that she wasn't meeting them, because she had agreed to go to Grimmauld Place and help Harry plan his surprise. She hated keeping this secret from Ron almost as much as Harry did, but they both thought it better that he didn't know until Harry asked Ron and Mr Weasley for their permission – which he was going to do tomorrow when he went to the burrow for Sunday tea.  
"Did you get a ring?" Hermione had barely been in the five minutes when she started badgering him with questions.  
"Yes," he slid the box across the kitchen table to her.  
"Oh Harry, it's beautiful." She breathed. Harry was glad she approved, but he wasn't sure Ginny would like it. All her other jewellery was simple and elegant. Not that the ring wasn't elegant, but it was rather flashy. Harry had nearly returned the ring three times in the week and a half since he had bought it – the only thing stopping him doing so was the feeling he had had in his gut when he first saw it in the shop. It was the same feeling he'd had when he first realised he was going to marry Ginny. He was as sure this ring was the one as he was as sure Ginny was. However, that didn't stop him doubting himself. The ring in question was an oval peridot, her birthstone, surrounded by delicate diamonds and set on a slim silver band. It was extravagant, but beautiful nonetheless.  
"So how are you going to do it?" Hermione's question tore him away from his doubts about the ring.  
"I'm not sure. I was thinking I would take her out for a fancy dinner on Monday night. Maybe in muggle London so the night can be all about her without either of us getting recognised. We could go for a walk afterwards and I could do it at the fountain in Hyde Park. It's romantic there."  
"You don't sound confident in your plan." Hermione observed, and she was correct.  
"It just seems generic. Like it's fine, but it's not special. She's the kind of girl who deserves something special." Harry shrugged. They weren't really a couple who did grand gestures and he was out of his depth.  
"Why don't you keep it simple then?" She suggested. Harry thought it wasn't a bad idea. If he took her out for a fancy dinner, then she would know something was up.  
"What if I surprised her? I could do the living room up a little. Nothing fancy, just a few candles and some rose petals. I could get Sirius' gramophone out the attic and play that album she loves so much. If I did it tomorrow night, as soon as she gets home, she'd never see it coming."  
"That's a brilliant idea Harry." Hermione smiled, reassuring him of his new plan.   
"You know; I think that's the first time you've ever said that to me without the slightest hint of sarcasm in your voice." He chuckled.   
"Well you have had some idiotic ideas in your time." She joined in on the laughter.  
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He laid the sarcasm on thick. He had had so many daft ideas in his life that he could no longer count them. The two friends laughed, chatted, reminisced and planned late into the night. They ended up opening a bottle of wine and laughed about how Ron would be suspicious if she didn't go home from her supposed girls night at least a little drunk.  
"I still don't understand what you talk about." Harry told her as he poured the first, of what turned into many, glasses of wine.  
"What do you mean?"  
"You three meet up, what, twice a month? Plus, you see Ginny nearly every day, and I imagine you run into Luna a lot too. How can you not, y'know, run out of things to say to one another?"  
"Because you, Ron and Rolf give us an endless stream of things to bitch about." She laughed.  
"Well Ron and I never bitch about you and Ginny," he said proudly, even though it was quite possibly the biggest lie he had ever told.  
"Oh yeah," she scoffed. "I'll believe it when pigs fly."  
"You know, that statement doesn't have quite the same impact now that we're wizards." He laughed, as did she. The rest of the night was spent reminiscing their first year at Hogwarts, and about how they found out they were wizards. Hermione didn't speak of her life before she turned eleven, as she knew Harry wouldn't want to think or talk about his.

The next morning, Harry awoke to find that Arnold had decided to sleep in the same bed as him rather than his own. Harry had no issue with it at first, but then he realised the Puff had peed on three different spots. He was annoyed until he pulled back the sheets and realised that the new, still nameless, Pygmy Puff was snuggled up in the bed too. Harry was glad she was settling in nicely. Harry would give Arnold the benefit of the doubt and assume it was the Puffling that had peed in the bed – although he wasn't entirely convinced that was the case. Arnold was the type of Puff who would do anything he wanted to if he thought the blame could be passed. Harry quickly took a picture of the two Puffs sleeping before he was forced to disturb them to change the bedding. Neither of them were all that enamoured with him for waking them, however, once they had been fed they played with one another quite happily – which allowed Harry to get on with putting the photo album together for Ginny.

When he had finished, he enlisted Kreacher's to help him tidy the house up then wrote a quick note to Ginny.

"Hello Love," he wrote as quickly as he could, whilst trying to keep his handwriting as legible as possible. "I can't wait to see you. Me and Arnold both miss you! Just to let you know, Seamus blew up the living room Floo – again! You'll need to use the kitchen. I assume you're staying here tonight anyway? Love you. See you soon! Harry." He didn't want her coming home and ruining the surprise before he was ready. After sending Hedwig on her way with the note, he set about decorating the living room. He sprinkled rose petals about the room and arranged candles on any and every flat surface. Then, when he was ready, he flooed to the Burrow for Sunday tea – pleasantly surprised by the fact that he wasn't running late.

"Harry!" Mrs Weasley greeted him as he stepped out the fireplace in the kitchen. "How are you, dear?"  
"I'm good thanks, you?"  
"I'm grand. Get yourself in here. Ron and Hermione are in the living room. Would you like a cup of tea?"  
"I'm alright thanks. Do you need a hand with dinner?"  
"Not at all, dear. You go sit down. Food won't be long; I'll give you all a shout." Harry nodded and made his way to the living room. He greeted Ron and Hermione, then Hermione promptly excused herself, knowing that he had to talk to Ron.  
"I'll go give your mum a hand with dinner." Hermione knew Molly wouldn't need her help, but it meant that she could tell Molly what was happening – which she had been itching to do since she first found out Harry was planning to propose. When she left, Harry sat where she had been sitting on the couch next to Ron.  
"Alright mate?" He asked.  
"Yeah, not bad."  
"Listen, I need to talk to you about something and it would be pretty great if you didn't hit me."  
"Are you breaking up with Ginny?" Ron's expression hardened.  
"No, no, no." He shook his head. "The exact opposite, in fact. I'd like to ask her to marry me. If you'll give me your permission." He decided it was best just to say the words and get it over with.  
"Mate, that's fantastic!" Ron hugged him quickly. "This is amazing! You don't need my permission you know, go for it!"  
"I still need to talk to your dad."  
"Well that's not going to be difficult. Dad will be thrilled!"  
"You're sure?"  
"Well, yeah." Ron laughed. "You'll officially be family."

Dinner passed quickly and slowly at the same time. Molly had called them all to the table before he had a chance to talk to Arthur, and now the suspense was killing him. He reckoned Ron was right about it being easy to talk to Mr Weasley, but he didn't want to get too cocky. After all, Harry had never taken Ginny or any of the Weasley's for granted, and he wasn't about to start doing it now. When they had finished eating, they all did there bit to help clear up. Harry, George and Mr Weasley were the last in the kitchen. Harry saw his chance to speak to Mr Weasley and decided just to go for it.  
"Mr Weasley, can I speak to you? Alone?" Harry looked at George, silently asking him to 'please, piss off.'  
"Okay, okay, I can take a hint. If mum shouts at me for not finishing these dishes, I'm blaming you Harry." George winked knowingly at Harry, then took his leave.  
"What's bothering you Harry?" Mr Weasley asked kindly, sitting down at the table.  
"Nothing, sir. I wanted to talk to you about Ginny." Mr Weasley just stared. For the first time since Harry was twelve, he felt intimidated by his girlfriend's father. "You see, I love Ginny with all my heart and I want to," Mr Weasley stopped him.  
"Harry, let me stop you there. I know what you're about to say and I want you to know I fully support you."  
"Really?"  
"Of course I do. When do you plan to propose?"  
"Tonight, Sir. I asked her to come over after her training camp. I wanted her to be surprised."

Harry and Mr Weasley chatted for some time then, not wanting to be late to greet Ginny, Harry excused himself and said farewell to the Weasley's. Once back in Grimmauld Place, he was struck with a fantastic idea. He ran into the living room to grab the Pygmy Puffs to take one last picture. He then dressed himself in a shirt and trousers – wanting to look smart, but not so smart as to throw Ginny off and ruin the surprise. He was using the back of a spoon to try and smooth out his hair when the fireplace lit up green. He threw the spoon into the sink and pretended to be doing nothing when she stepped out the fireplace.  
"Hi!" He jumped up to greet her.  
"Hey," she dumped her bag down to hug him. They kissed, then sat down at the kitchen table. She told him all about her training camp and how much she had enjoyed it. They even got a training session with Gwenog Jones – the captain of the Holyhead Harpies.  
"So, anyway, what did you and Arnold get up to all week?"  
"I'm glad you asked." Harry brought out the photo album from under the table and passed it to her.  
"What's this?" She asked, opening it.  
"Just have a look." He smiled. She flicked through the pages, laughing at the silly pictures, asking him lots of questions and making lots of comments.  
"Oh look at him at work. Wasn't he a pest?"  
"Not at all," he reassured her.  
"Aw, he looks so cute sitting on Fang's nose!" She squealed. "Harry James Potter!" She gasped a second later, absolutely horrified. "You did not take him to the pub!"  
"No?" He lied, unsure why he even bothered. The picture was quite clearly taken in the pub. She laughed when she turned the page and saw the picture of Arnold playing in his bath with the multi-coloured bubbles.  
"It looks like you're a natural with Arnold. It shouldn't be too much harder to look after a baby, right?" This really caught his attention. He jumped up from the table.  
"You're pregnant? Oh my God, Ginny! That's fantastic!" He couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face.  
"Harry," she looked up at his beaming face, guilt suddenly drowning her. "Harry, I'm so sorry. I was just trying to freak you out. You weren't supposed to get so happy. It was a joke."  
"Oh, okay." He sat back down, more than a little deflated.  
"I'm so sorry Harry."  
"No, no. It's fine." He cleared his throat. "Keep looking." He pointed back to the book, desperate for them to be talking about literally anything else. She got to the end of the album, making less comments than before, and looked up at him again.  
"Harry, this was such a sweet idea. Thank you." Again, he smiled at her.  
"It's no bother, it was actually quite fun. Will we go have a soft seat?" He suggested.  
"Yeah, my back is killing me."

He led the way to the living room, "Oh, disclaimer. We have two Pygmy Puffs now. I couldn't resist buying that pink one in the picture. She gets on great with Arnold." He opened the living room door and quickly lit the candles as he entered with the slightest movement of his wrist before Ginny entered the room.  
"Merlin," she breathed. "What's all this?" Harry handed her the photograph he had taken of Arnold and the Puffling earlier that evening. He had dressed Arnold up in a bowtie and the new Puffling in a veil. As she studied the photograph, he dropped to one knee.  
"Harry!" She gasped.  
"Ginny Weasley." He took a deep breath and opened the ring box he had been carrying around. "This has been the longest week of my life without you and, if you'll have me, I'd love to spend every day of the rest of my life with you. I love you. Will you marry me?"  
"Of course I'll marry you, you idiot!" She laughed as he placed the ring on her finger.


End file.
